18th Century
By the 1700's Holland was the leading country
in carrot breeding and today's "modern" orange version is directly descended
from the Dutch-bred carrots of this time.. At the time four main orange varieties existed - Early
Half Long, Late Half Long, Scarlet Horn and Long Orange. All modern Hybrids
are derived from these four strains. It was attractive enough to figure in
several Dutch masters paintings. See the Art page
for some truly great works of art featuring carrots. Many cookbooks prior to the
1850s attempted to merge medicine with cookery. As a result, many dangerous,
even deadly, "cure-alls" are given, reflecting the primitive medical knowledge
of that era.

In this period many new ways had been gradually found of utilising the materials
for food, and vegetables were growing more plentiful. The carrot was
predominantly used in
soups, puddings, and tarts.

The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary; Or, The Accomplish'd Housewife's
Companion (1723) by John Nott was a very early reference to recipes with carrots
as the main ingredient. (below)

In Batty
Langley's New Principles of Gardening (1728) he describes the three primary
varieties of carrots - Yellow (or Orange), Red and Wild as follows:

"Of Carrots we have three kinds, viz. The yellow or
orange carrot, the red Carrot, and the wild or white Carrot; of which the yellow
is the most valuable, called in Greek staphilinus, in Latin Pastinaca sativa
tenuifolia, in High Dutch Geelruben, in Low Dutch Geel Peen, Pooteen of Wortelen,
in French Carotte, in Italian Pastinaca, in Spanish Zanahoria and in English
yellow Carrot.

The root is of an orange (rather than a Limon) Colour
both without and within. I have had carrots of this kind that have been twenty
two inches in length and of twelve inches in circumference. And although Carrots
of a very large size are much valued by many, I cannot recommend them as much as
the middling size which are always much sweeter and less insipid.

The Red Carrot is of the same form, both in Leaves,
Stalk, Seed and Root, but very rarely grows so large. Its Leaves are of a dark
reddish green, and its root of a blackish red without, and yellowish within; and
is very seldom cultivated in our gardens.

(This is probably a reference to the purple carrot, which
by this time is disappearing in England.)

The Wild Carrot is called in Greek staphilinus agrios,
in Latin Pastinaca Sylvestris tenuifolia by some Daucus, in High Dutch wild
Pastenen, Vogel nest, in Low Dutch Vogels nest and wild Caroten, Crookens cruyt,
in French Pastenade Sauvage, in England wild Carrot, and after the Dutch Birds
Nest. the roots are very small and a mean length and often white."

You can read all of more than 5 pages of Langley’s notes about carrots at
Archive.org here.

1735 Botanalogica
Universalis Hibernica written by John K’Eogh, Chaplain to Lord Kingston - "An
account of Herbs, Shrubs and Trees and their medicinal qualities and virtues"
gave these uses for carrot and its wild form (below left);Right
is an Illustration of Daucus from Weinmann’s Phytanthoza iconographia, 1739.

In 1736 E. Smith's wrote "Compleat Housewife," and included this delicious and
unusual recipe -

To make Carrot or Parsnip Puffs:—Scrape and boil your
carrots or parsnips tender; then scrape or mash them very fine, add to a
pint of pulp the crumb of a penny-loaf grated, or some stale biscuit, if
you have it, some eggs, but four whites, a nutmeg grated, some
orange-flower-water, sugar to your taste, a little sack, and mix it up
with thick cream. They must be fry'd in rendered suet, the liquor very hot
when you put them in; put in a good spoonful in a place.

In 1740 a recipe for Carrot Pudding appeared - "Receipts (recipes) of Pastry and Cookery
For the Use of his Scholars. By Ed. Kidder (1720-1740)"
read more on carrot puddings here.

Also in 1740 there was also published (right) - "A most excellent
cure for the stone and gravel" by Joanna Stephens - pills containing Wild
Carrot seeds. (Gravel = Sandlike concretions of uric acid, calcium
oxalate, and mineral salts formed in the passages of the biliary and urinary
tracts.) Source US National Library of Medicine, Digital Collections).

By 1749 it appears that England was exporting carrots, via the Dutch East India
Company. The ship "Amsterdam", built in 1748 in Amsterdam, was lost during her
maiden voyage, outward bound for Batavia, the modern Djakarta, in January 1749
near the little town of Hastings on the south coast of England. The excavations
of the wreck form part of an integrated historical and archaeological programme
to create relevant historical models for understanding the ship and its
contents. Among the different kinds of vegetable remains, such as the seeds of
spinach, carrot, wild radish, beet, purslane, black mustard and
coriander. In addition to rice, wheat and other cereals, seeds and pips of
fruits like figs and blackberries were found. (Source - East
Indiaman Amsterdam research 1984-1986 J Gawronski - ANTIQUITY 64 (1990): 363-75)

John Wesley,MA
1747 wrote "A Primitive Physic, an easy and natural method of curing most
diseases", this included carrots in several "cures" -

A cancer in the breast - 112. A Poultice of wild Parsnips or scraped
Carrots, Flowers, Leaves and Stalks, changing it Morning and evening.

For Putrid wounds 822. “Apply a carrot poultice.”

(A Cancer was described as a hard, round, uneven, painful
swelling, of a blackish or leaden Colour, the Veins round which seem ready to
burst. It comes commonly with a Swelling about as big as a Pea, which does not
at first give much Pain, nor change the colour of the Skin.)

1747 The New English Dispensary indicates - Various species all used in medicine
-Wild Carrot seed infused in ale is an esteemed diuretic, and excellent to
prevent the stone and alleviate its more violent fits. It also expels gravel and
provokes urine and the menses. Domestic carrot has dark red roots. the
roots are frequently used in food though they are flatulent. They are thought to
render the body soluble and contribute to the cure of the cough. A dram of seeds
of white carrot reduced to a powder are exhibited in Baum water as a specific
against hysteric fits. (Extract here)

1751 John Hill wrote "A History of Materia Medica, containing descriptions
of all the substances used in medicine" in which in chapter 23 he
commented (full extract here, pdf)

"There are two kinds of daucus seeds kept in the shops, daucus creticus and
daucus vulgaris. Creticus was found to breed insects and therefore had no
virtue. It principally came from Germany or the Levant (eastern Mediterranean -
specifically Anatolia). Creticus was described as having a long root, the
thickness of a mans finger. Vulgaris was called the common or wild carrot with a
short and broad root, terminating obtusely at the end. It's colour was dark
brown and tasted similar to Cretan carrot but weaker and fainter. The seeds of
both plants have similar virtues described as being powerful diuretics as well
as good carminatives and uterines. The Cretic kind is one of the four lesser hot
seeds in the shops and enters into some officinal compositions."

(Cretan carrot seeds were used in ancient recipes for universal panacea drugs
such as "Theriac or theriaca" (also known as Venetian Treacle) which was a medical concoction
originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century AD - modern treacle
derives from this - History of Theriac -
https://www.historyonthenet.com/theriac-historys-amazing-wonder-drug)

1751 Thomas Short, MD of Sheffield (UK) wrote an account of the nature, virtues
and uses of physical pants found in Great Britain, commonly called "Medicina
Britannica". He gave several references to the use of wild carrot seeds in
several concoctions, including an antidote to poisons. (218, above right)

1755 - John Hill wrote "The Useful Family Herbal - an account of those English
plants which are remarkable for their virtues" and included this passage
about carrots (note the spelling with a single "r")

In January 1766 a Mr. Young, in his treatise upon the management of hogs, was
of opinion that "boiled carrots are the best food for fattening that useful
animal. He prefers them to pollard, white pease, buck wheat, or potatoes".
(Reported in a collection of Georgical essay, published in 1802 -
archive.org here

The therapeutic use of seeds occurred again in 1772 when Nicholas Robinson, MD
Royal College of Physicians, wrote his complete "Treatise of Stones, Gravel and
all other sabulous secretions wherein are discovered the Great virtues of Burdoc and Wild Carrot Seeds." This work recommends "a tea made with wild
carrot seeds sweetened with Lisbon sugar, and to drink half a pint at night and
morning and in 3 days the pain is greatly relieved and in 5 days gone
altogether. This "remedy" is a diuretic (which carrot seeds are) cause
greater discharge of gravel from the kidneys and bladder than naturally would
discharge from these organs." (source Wellcome Library Medical
Tracts 321).

(Lisbon sugar - An alternative name for CLAYED SUGAR.
This was made from MUSCOVADO in a SUGAR POT called by the French a 'forme' in
which the sugar was first cooled with the bottom hole plugged, The MOLASSES were
then drained before a layer of wet clay was placed on top. From it water and
clay oused through the sugar taking with it the last remnants of molasses [Rees
(1819-20, 1972 ed.)], though possibly leaving traces of clay in the sugar
itself.)

1782 Advice was given on how to dress carrots -

"The modern cook: and frugal
housewife's compleat guide to every branch in displaying her table to the
greatest advantage" by E Spencer, in England.

The book also contained several
recipes including carrot and a carrot pudding recipe.

(Image right, source US
National Library of Medicine, Digital Collections)

In 1602 the
Dutch government set out to monopolize the intercontinental spice trade,
establishing the Dutch East India Company as an official colonial agency. The
company was given massive financial backing and the legal power to wage war,
create overseas settlements, and uphold its own jurisprudence. For over 200
years the company represented Dutch interests in Asia and dominated European
trade.

The surgeon’s chests remained more or less the same throughout that period,
consisting of some 130 different ‘potent/curing’ ingredients, from which the
surgeon could choose to prepare his prescriptions. It is recorded that in 1784
they were divided into various kinds of plasters (emplastra), ointments (unguenta),
oils (olea), opium derivations in the form of pills (opiata in massam pilularum
redacta), purgatives (laxativa), roots (radices), honey preparations (mellitta),
waters (aquae), marmalades (conservae), powders (pulveres), herbs (herbae),
flowers (flores), bark, fruits, woods and seeds (cortices, fructus, ligna,
semina), concentrated juices, gums, and resins (succi condensati, gummi, resinae).

The chests also contained ingredients such as mercury, laurel, vinegar,
turpentine and juniper, necessary for the preparation of plasters, as well as
sulphur, sulphuric acid, anti-diarrhoea preparations,
ground carrots, barks, and animal parts (like pig’s feet, crab’s
eyes, deer antlers, and Spanish fly)

In 1787 George
Washington wrote to Benjamin Fitzhugh Grymes: “I am convinced that n proper soil
the culture of carrots will be found very advantageous for feeding farm horses
and every piece of stock. I am inclined to think that rows od carrots will yiled
5 to 8 bushels of carrots to one of corn.

We also know that the
carrot root crop was adopted by Native Americans, because it was
listed among the Native American stores of crops destroyed by General John Sullivan's army
in 1779 during their forays of Indian territory. (USA history, read more here)
The expedition of General Sullivan against the Six Nations (Iroquois) in the
Genesee county, upper New York State, ascertained that local Indians had fields
of corn, and gardens of beans, peas, turnips, cabbages, melons, carrots,
parsnips and potatoes. (Hales History of Agriculture by Dates, 1915)

The story is
told that children of the Flathead tribe in Oregon liked carrots so well that
they could not resist stealing them from the fields, although they resisted
stealing other things.

Find out more about John Sullivan (1740-1795) by clicking the picture.

Thomas
Jefferson (3rd President of the Unites States) raised several types
of carrots in his Monticello garden. In 1814 he produced 18 bushels of carrots.. Thomas Jefferson wrote that "the greatest
service which can be rendered any country is to add a useful plant to its
culture."

The gardens at Monticello were a botanic garden, an experimental
laboratory of ornamental and useful plants from around the world. At Monticello,
Jefferson cultivated over 250 vegetable varieties in his 1000-foot-long garden
terrace and 170 fruit varieties in the eight-acre fruit garden, designed
romantic grottos, garden temples, and ornamental groves, and took visitors
on rambling surveys of his favourite "pet trees." Jefferson was crazy
about gardening. See Jefferson's handwritten note
here about how he underestimated the amount of carrots he needed.

An interesting letter
from George Divers to Thomas Jefferson in 1809 gives an idea of one man's
preferences for several of the root crops. "I sow 200 feet each of parsnip and
beet. 320 feet each salsafy and carrots…which is a very ample provision for my
table and indeed, more than sufficient." Jefferson's Garden Book
(first citation) shows:- Carrots (1774), Early Carrot (1812), Large Carrot
(1812), Orange Carrot (1809), Yellow Carrot (1811).

He also said "I have lived temperately, eating little animal
food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables
which constitute my principal diet." (TJ to Dr. Vine Utley, 21 March 1819)

Carrots were allowed to escape cultivation and subsequently turned into the
omnipresent and delicate wild flower "Queen Anne's Lace" which in some
US counties is still considered a pest today. Find out more about the wild
carrot on its own page. Click here.

When the
British Navy blockaded West Indian sugar from entering Europe in the 18th
century, chemists made sugar from organic carrots, sugar is still
extracted from beets (incidentally, rabbits much prefer beets to carrots).

In
the long history of plant science, no name is more famous than that of
Linnaeus and no book is more highly regarded than
his "Species Plantarum," published in 1753,
the starting-point for the Latin binomial, or two-word, names of plants.
These are recognized in all countries, and so enable positive identification
of a plant species anywhere, regardless of innumerable vernacular names.

Theophrastus, the father of botany used binomials even in the 4th century
B.C., but it was Linnaeus who systematized them and made them into a workable
code of nomenclature, distinguishing for the first time between species and
varieties, and making the species the unit of classification. He recognised Daucus Pastinaca in the first edition.

The Compleat Book of Husbandry, Volume three by Thomas Hale,
1758, which "contained rules for the whole business
of farmer in cultivating, planting and stocking of land":

"There
is a variety of colour in the roots of the carrot, the gardeners have hence made
what they call three principal kinds: These they call,
1. The dark red carrot.
2. The orange carrot. And 3. the white carrot. The first and last of these
terms are somewhat improper, the first kind being only a very deep orange, and
the other a very pale yellow. The first is most esteemed. The white kind is more
common in France and Italy than here; and is the sweetest and finest flavoured
of them all. The farmer is to cultivate not that which is best, but what people
think so; and therefore he is to chuse the deep red, commonly called the
Sandwich carrot." Read more about Sandwich carrot in
this museum page.

A British army manual written in 1798 sang the praises of soup for weary troops.
Nothing is so agreeable and at the same time so wholesome to a soldier, after a
fatiguing and perhaps wet march, as some warm soup. The use of broth or soup is
particularly advantageous after great fatigue, because, on these occasions, the
digestive organs are weakened and less liable to bear solid food than at other
times. That manual went on to enumerate the items usually available for the army
mess’s soup kettle. Among these were cabbage, carrots, parsnips, onion,
and potatoes. (The Soldiers Friend 1798)

John Wesley gave to the
world in 1769 an admirable little treatise on
Primitive Physic, or an Easy and Natural Method for Curing most Diseases;
the medicines on which he chiefly relied being our native plants. For asthma, he
advised the sufferer to "live a fortnight on boiled Carrots only";
for "baldness, to wash the head with a decoction of Boxwood"; for
"blood-spitting to drink the juice of Nettles".

On the 28th of
November, 1771, British explorer Captain James Cook was appointed to the command
of the Resolution in which he made his second voyage of discovery to the south
Pacific. It was recommended to Captain Cook
in 1771 by Baron Storch of Berlin as a cure for scurvy.

He evaporated carrot juice to the thickness of treacle. Following this advice
Captain Cook set off to discover the New World in 1772, reaching the Cape of
Good hope after a 3 months voyage. The voyage carried amongst its provision some
30 gallons of Carrot Marmalade. Cook’s ship, the Resolution finally docked in
New Zealand after 117 days at sea, the good state of the men's health was partly
attributed to the ingestion of Carrot Marmalade, to help ward off scurvy. The
mammoth journey ended in 1776 with an astonishing record of only one man being
lost from sickness and that was not from scurvy! (source
History of Scurvy Vitamin C, by Ken J Carpenter, 1988)

On 17 January 1773, Resolution was the first ship to cross the Antarctic
Circle. Captain Cook's own account of the voyage includes a section on the
provisions he took for the voyage:-

We had besides many extra articles, such as malt, sour krout,
salted cabbage, portable broth, saloup, mustard, marmalade of carrots, and
inspissated juice of wort and beer. Some of these articles had before been
found to be highly antiscorbutic; and others were now sent out on trial,
or by way of experiment;—the inspissated juice of beer and wort, and
marmalade of carrots especially. As several of these antiscorbutic
articles are not generally known, a more particular account of them may
not be amiss. Marmalade of carrots is the juice of yellow carrots,
inspissated till it is of the thickness of fluid honey, or treacle, which
last it resembles both in taste and colour. It was recommended by Baron
Storsch, of Berlin, as a very great antiscorbutic; but we did not find
that it had much of this quality. (Inspissated means evaporated off
to make a syrup)The ship took 30 imperial gallons (140 l) of 'Mermalade
of Carrots'.

Extract of a letter to Captain Cook, aboard the sloop Resolution at
Deptford Dock, from Baron Storsch, written from Berlin 12 September 1771.
The letter is in a letter book of orders, correspondence and instructions
to and from Cook and the British Admiralty in preparation for his second
voyage of discovery.

In the letter Storsch remarks the recipe is “one of the best
Remedies against the Scurvy, it will be of the greatest use in long Sea
Voyages, and if this Remedy should take it will of consequence improve the
Culture of this useful wholesome Root.”

Text of the letter

"About the beginning of October when the Yellow
Carrots are the Sweetest, you take fresh out of the Ground as many
as you intend to make use of. Take care to chose them well, that
none with black Spots be left between them.

You wash your Carrots sundry times & clean them nicely of the
Herb as well as of the Green Top.
If you intend to make but a Small quantity of the Marmalade you
may grate your Carrots upon a Tin Grater but should you want any
large quantity, you may mince or hatch the Carrots which you put
into a Kettle And Add as much fresh water, that your Carrots be
cover’d with about four inches with Water. You boil them over a
Small fire until they are reduced to a pap, the Grated Carrots Want
less boiling, the hatched ones must be boil’d about twelve hours,
take a great care never to give too Much fire after they begin to
boil & to stir your Carrots now & then of fear they may stick and
burn beneath.

When your Carrots are boil’d enough, you must strain them well
through a clean linen and press the Felt well, that all the juice
may come out, the dregs are a good Food for Hogs, Geese & Ducks. You
put the filtrated Juice of Carrots into another Kettle & boil it
again over a small fire until it gets the thickness of a fluid
honey, at this last boiling you must take great care by constant
stirring and by small firing to prevent its sticking to the Kettle &
burning, which will give to your Marmalade a bitter and disagreeable
taste.

When your Marmalade is enough boil’d and well done, you preserve
it into Stone or Earth pots, well varnish’d & keep it well cover’d
with a Parchment or Bladder, if it is well made & thick enough
boil’d, it will preserve full two years.

Should your Marmalade spoil by some accident or other and get
some moisture at the top, you take of the moisture with a Spoon and
boil it again and it will regain its first sweetness.

Other method of making the Carrot Marmalade (transcription of
above image of letter)

You squeeze the Juice out of the grated or hatched Carrots and
boil it immediately thick without any addition of water either over
a Small fire or even over boiling water, you preserve it in the
abovementioned way, but it will not keep above a twelve month.

In some Parts of Germany where many acres of Carrots are
cultivated they make use of Oil Mills to squeeze the juice of the
Carrots and boil it afterwards in the last mentioned manner.

One acre of good soil well plowed will want 24 ounces of carrot
seeds, a less rich soil will want 2 pound of seed per acre.

The carrot don’t improve well in a well dung
land."

In 1773, Captain Cook and navigator Tobias Furneaux planted a
number of gardens in Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand, with plants such as
potatoes, carrots, parsnips, cabbages, onions, leeks, parsley, radish, mustard,
broad beans, kidney beans, peas, turnips and wheat. That same year, south of
Cape Kidnappers, Cook gave the Māori chief Tuanui roots and seeds, including
wheat, beans, peas, cabbages, turnips, onions, carrots, parsnips and yams.
When Europeans arrived, Māori replaced their traditional crops with those
brought by Europeans. Their main crop was soon potatoes, which provided a
heavier and more reliable food source than kūmara, and could be grown
throughout the country. Corn, cabbages, tobacco, carrots, turnips, squash,
swedes and new varieties of kūmara were also added to Māori gardens.

By the start of the 19th century vegetable growing had
become a highly profitable enterprise for some coastal tribes who sold
or traded their vegetables with whalers, sealers and the first European
settlers.

Although Māori adopted the new crops they did not adopt all
European horticultural practices. Māori were reluctant to use hoes and
spades, preferring their traditional tools. They also refrained from
fertilising their crops with animal manure, instead continuing to clear
new sites when the fertility of their gardens dropped.

On 13 May 1787
it was recorded that a total of 66 bushels of seed was loaded aboard HMS
Sirius, Supply and Golden Grove, part of the fleet of eleven ships which
left Portsmouth, England for Australia. Gidley King's gang of convict
gardeners sowed carrot seed at Norfolk Island on 17 March 1788, just two
weeks after their arrival. It noted that the seedlings had sprouted by
21 March (probably not correct!). More carrots, from "English Seeds"
were sown on 7 July and the mature roots were gathered in October.

In November 1788 recorded in the transactions of
the Royal Society of Edinburgh (second volume, part 1) was a report on
the distillation of spirits from carrots Mr Hornby and Dr Hutton,
conducted in 17 May 1788. Mr Thomas Hornby, druggist from York described
the process for producing an ardent spirit from carrots. The experiment
concluded that 200 tons of carrots would produce 200 gallons of proof
spirit.

This proved to be more expensive than creating
spirit from grain (malt, wheat and rye) but the resulting “refuse” could
compensate for that cost through its sale for animal feed. It also
concluded that the corn could then be better used for other purposes
“an object worthy of attention and encouragement”. (see
full account in an extract from Royal Society papers here - pdf).
This proposition was again repeated in 1803, attempting to make an ale
see below.

In 1788 The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, written by Mrs Hannah Glasse
gave advice of how to dress carrots. By far the most well known of the
18th century cookbook authors, became the cookbook to have if you lived in
Britain at the time. Carrot Pudding is here.

A manuscript of recipes originated in England,
between 1765 and 1830.
(UPenn Ms. Codex 1038)
Summary: Collection of recipes for desserts, meats, preserves, "soops,"
and condiments, including Indian-influenced dishes such as curry and
pickles.

It included this unusual recipe for Carrot Puff - Boyl some Carots very Tender,
Scrape them, then Mash them, and take good Cream, and Eggs, and the Whites of
two–Beat them with a little Salt and Grated Nutmeg, Mix all with a little Flower
to thicken them, then Fry them in Liquor. Image of Soop here.

First records in Australia show it arrived in 1788
with the First Fleet and convicts planted 'Long Orange' carrots on Norfolk
Island just two weeks after their arrival and gathered in their first harvest in
October of that year. Along with the cabbage, it became an important food for
the colonists.

Visit the Australia page here for
more information. (opens in new window)

1789 - "Hortus
Kewensis", a catalogue of plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Gardens
at Kew, London, compiled by William Aiton, Gardener to His Majesty
George lll records yellow and red garden carrot, natives of England.

In 1791 William Lewis produced An Experimental History of the Materia Medica
giving an account of the pharmaceutical properties and medicinal powers of
plants. The book promoted the use of carrots as a diuretic, for the relief of
stranguary (difficulty or pain in urinating). It indicated that wild
carrots gave a stronger effect. It also recommends a poultice of garden carrot
root to treat skin ulcers. He concludes by saying the "A marmalade of carrots
has also been proposed as an addition to the stock of ships provisions, for
preventing scurvy."

In 1793 the Catalogue of Flower Roots & Seeds of J Mason At the Orange Tree, 152
Fleet Street London listed Early Horn and Long Orange (Sandwich) carrot seeds.

1796 - American Cookery The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry, and
Vegetables by Amelia Simmons - the first known American cookbook -

"Carrots are managed as it respects plowing and rich ground, similarly to
Parsnips. The yellow are better than the orange or red; middling fiz'd, that is,
a foot long and two inches thick at the top end, are better than over grown
ones; they are cultivated best with onions, sowed very thin, and mixed with
other seeds, while young or six weeks after sown, especially if with onions on
true onion ground. They are good with veal cookery, rich in soups, excellent
with hash, in May and June.

Carrot Pudding_.

A coffee cup full of boiled and strained carrots, 5 eggs, 2 ounces sugar
and butter each, cinnamon and rose water to your taste, baked in a deep dish
without paste, 1hour."

Frederick Nodder 1793

Jacob Sturm 1796

The Soldier’s Friend, 1798, .A British army manual sang the praises of
soup for weary troops.

"Nothing is so agreeable and at the same time so wholesome to a soldier,
after a fatiguing and perhaps wet march, as some warm soup. The use of broth or
soup is particularly advantageous after great fatigue, because, on these
occasions, the digestive organs are weakened and less liable to bear solid food
than at other times."

The manual went on to enumerate the items usually available for the army mess’s
soup kettle. Among these were cabbage, carrots, parsnips, onion, and
potatoes.

By the 1800'shorticultural growers were
producing roots of a colossal size. Some were two feet in length with a girth of
twelve inches and weighing four pounds each. Carrots were widely cultivated in
the walled gardens of country estates. Growers were continually experimenting
with strains to create the perfect "show roots". Come the 19th century, carrots
were widely grown and began their descent into the ordinary alongside onions and
potatoes. This certainly was not a bad thing, as obviously some foodstuffs have
to take the role as workhorse recipe ingredients. And carrots certainly do it
well, whether it's the leading taste in a soup, cake or refreshing drink, or
bit-player in stock, salad or stew.

Ferdinand Bernhard Vietz (18 November 1772 in Vienna – 15
December 1815 in Vienna), was an Austrian pharmacologist, a Doctor of the
Healing Arts and Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of Vienna, and
is best known for Icones Plantarum Medico-Oeconomico-Technologicarum cum Earum
Fructus ususque Descriptione (1800–1822), an 11-volume compilation of medicinal,
culinary and decorative plant species consulted by pharmacologists during the
early 1800s.

In 1803Dr A Hunter wrote
numerous essays in the series "Georgical Essays" detailing his experiments on
the planting of carrots, their yield and uses on the farm. He also
detailed an experiment to make a useful alcoholic spirit from carrots. (full
text available from
Archive.org here)

Dr Hunter reported that "In 1773 I took 24 bushels of carrots and
boiled them in 4 gallons of water. My design was to make an ale with a
quantity of hops, it worked kindle and was treated as ale. It remained in
the cask for 4 months whereupon it had a thick and muddy appearance and
any attempt to fine it failed. The taste much resembled a malt liquor. I
threw it in the still and after two distillations I obtained 4 gallons of
clean proof spirit. It had however contracted the flavour of the hop.

From my gross calculation I am induced to think that from a good acre of
carrots manufactured in this manner will leave a profit of forty pounds after
all expenses and that the spirit is worth six shillings a gallon and not
excised."

In 1806 Wallace Mason Mason won a silver medal from
the Society of Arts for a 12 page report entitled “Experiments on the Culture of
Carrots”, detailing every aspect of growing them. It even included a breakdown
of labour costs and precise instructions on how the carrots were to lifted. The
only thing he does not comment on is the best colour!

"The purport of this communication is to explain, with a degree of accuracy,
the best method to produce carrots. In Suffolk, the culture of this highly
valuable root has been carried on for ages. Various attempts have been made to
extend the benefit more generally throughout the kingdom, but with little
success." The main theme of the document is to explain in minute detail
how carrots can be grown anywhere in the country and goes on to describe ideal
environmental, propagation and maintenance conditions to guarantee a good crop.
"The season for sowing is middle of March to 12 April; the proper hoe should
four inches by and one half inch and kept sharp."

Having explained in some considerable details (though he describes it as
concise!) the document then moves on to describe the use and application of
carrots once cultivated. Overgrown and crooked carrots are extracted before
the rest go off to market, the former are retained for home consumption "for
which they will answer vas well as the others". The ones retained
were recommended as an extremely valuable feed to cart horses and other cattle,
but not riding horses "nimble exercise causes them to be laxative and produce
griping." It is interesting that even at this early stage the market
preferred straight carrots. (Nicholson's journal -
Journal of
Natural Philosophy, Chemistry and the Arts -
full report here - archive.org)

In 1808 the following recipe appeared in "Domestic Cookery" by Maria Rundell. It
is interesting that she talks about the red part of the carrots and not the
yellow.

Put some beef-bones, with four quarts of the liqour in which a leg
of mutton or beef has been boiled, two large onions, a turnip, pepper, and
salt, into a sauce-pan, and stew for three hours. Have ready six large
carrots, scarped and cut thin; strain the soup on them, and stew them
till soft enough to pulp through a hair sieve or coarse cloth: then boil
the pulp with the soup, which is to be as thick as peas-soup. Use two
wooden spoons to rub the carrot through. Make the soup the day before it
is to be used. Add Cayenne. Pulp only the red part of the carrot, and
not the yellow.

In 1811 Frenchman, Nicholas Appert introduced the art of preserving and
described means of preserving carrots in glass jars. Either simply scalded and
half boiled in water with salt, or prepared as soup, ready to eat out of the
bottle. Appert said "“henceforth, everybody will be able to preserve the
treasures nature bestows on us in one season and enjoy them in the sterile
season when she refuses them.” (The Art of Preserving all kinds of Animal and Vegetable
Substances 1811).

1813 - The Duke of Bedford promoted an act
of Parliament to clarify the rules applicable to the use of Covent Garden Market
in London. It established his right to collect tolls and a schedule to the Act
contained a scale of the tolls which might be charged in the different parts of
the market known as the casual cart stands. Here is the toll for "Carts
containing wholly or principally carrots".

1814 - The English Physician enlarged , N Culpepper 1814 had this to say:

A Family Herbal - an account
of the medicinal properties of British and Foreign plants – 1814.
Robert John Thornton, MD, London reported that the seeds of wild Carrots
had a warm and not disagreeable taste, and are esteemed as stomachic and
diuretic, whereas the domestic seeds were described as carminative and
diuretic. This work also talks about the uses of carrots in a poultice
to ease sores. see Museum page
about poultices page here.

1825 saw the publication of the encyclopaedia of Gardening by John Claudius
Loudon which described in great depth the practices for the successful
cultivation of carrots. It mentions that the perfect manure for a carrot field
is "half for the dunghill and half from the merde (collected from the privies!),
ploughed in and the surface made smooth so that the seeds can be planted in
April, covered with a harrow." It also stated -

"The produce of an acre of carrots in Suffolk was upwards of 800
bushels per acre, which considerably exceeds the largest crop of
potatoes. In comparing thee carrot with the potato an additional
circumstance greatly in favour of the former is, that it does not requir
to be steamed or boiled , and it is not more difficult to wash that the
potato. These and other circumstances considered, it appears to be the
most valuable of all roots for working horses. An able Norfolk team
horse, fully worked two journeys a day, winter and summer, may be kept
the entire year round upon the produce of only one stature acre of land.

The use of carrot in domestic economy is well known. Their produce of
nutritive matter, as ascertained by Sir H Davy, in 98 parts in one
thousand of which three are starch and ninety fve sugar. They are use in
dairy in winter and spring to give colour to and flavour to butter. In
the distillery owing to the great proportion of sugar in their
composition, they yield more spirit than the potato; the usual quantity
is 12 gallons per ton. They are excellent in stews, soups and haricots
and boiled whole with salt beef."

1830 - The Botanic physician :being a compendium of the practice of
physic, upon botanical principles, containing all the principal branches
necessary to the study of medicine ... together with a variety of useful
recipes, Elisha Smith. This gave guidance on the medicinal use of Wild
Carrot seeds and cultivated roots:

1831 "A Guide to the orchard and kitchen garden, an account of the most valuable
vegetables grown in Great Britain" written by George Lindley of the Royal
Horticultural Society, lists the varieties of carrots grown at the time.

1833 - Wild ancestors and the modern carrot - In
the days before the laws of heredity were properly understood, it used to be
thought that if you grew wild carrots in your garden long enough, they would
eventually turn into cultivated carrots, NOT SO!

The French botanist and horticulturist M Vilmorin-Andrieux reported in a paper
to the Royal Horticultural Society in London that in six years from 1833,
starting with wild seed from white rooted plants, he had managed to grow
thicker, biennial , red rooted carrots, but they remained course, forked and not
very tasty.

Vilmorin claimed to have produced a viable, cultivated carrot from wild plants
in just a few generations. The experiment was never repeated and it is thought
that the "wild" plants used had previously been hybridised in nature with
cultivated carrots. (Source Banga 1957) - Vilmorin's report was named
"On the Improvement of the Wild Carrot" .

His partial success had nothing to do with cultivation and everything to do with
the wild carrots gene pool that enabled him to fix the genomes he selected. He
simply selected seed from biennial, red rooted variations. So he could not lay
claim to be the founder of modern carrot, as many writers suggest.

Vilmorin produced "The Vegetable Garden" in 1856 and it became one of the major
resources for botanists and others interested in garden plants.

Some images of the carrots varieties which Vilmorin described (and were probably
the original orange carrot varieties developed in Holland):

The Victorians had a recipe to destroy crickets – a paste of flour, powdered
arsenic, and scraped carrots, placed near their habitations. This was developed
because it was discovered that crickets were very fond of carrots. (Magazine
of domestic economy, volume iv, 1839)

J E Carter 1837 wrote The botanic physician, or, Family medical adviser: being
an improved system, found on correct physiological principles : comprising a
brief view of anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene [sic], or art of
preserving health : a materia medica, exclusively botanical, containing a
description of more than two hundred and thirty of the most valuable vegetable
remedies : to which is added a dispensatory, embracing more than two hundred
recipes for preparing and administering medicine : the diseases of the United
States, with their symptoms, causes, cures, and means of prevention : likewise,
a treatise on the diseases peculiar to women and children. (extract above
right)

The value of the sugar content in carrots was becoming more recognised and
valued. The Rural Cyclopedia written by Rev John Wilson in 1847 in Edinburgh
“Communicates a thorough knowledge of farming, a general knowledge of gardening
and a very considerable knowledge of the natural sciences and of general country
affairs.” , talked about the creation of an alcoholic spirit from carrots as
shown below. Nevertheless the main use for carrots was as animal fodder and
particularly recommended as a medicine for horses, given to aid breathlessness,
chronic cough, poor skin, to expel wind and given to sick or idle horses in
place of corn. "There is none better are perhaps even as good".

The culinary uses of carrots for soups, for stews, for haricots, for
boiling whole with beef, and for other methods of cookery, are too
well known to require any remark. The availableness of carrots for the
manufacture of sugar has already been noticed. The expressed juice of
carrots, in consequence of the large proportion of sugar it contains,
yields, after fermentation, and through the process of distillation,
so large a quantity of spirituous liquor as twelve gallons of spirit
fro every ton of carrots.

In 1850 Miss Leslie's "Lady's New Receipt Book" gave a useful guide for small
and large families containing directions for cooking, preserving and pickling:

TO STEW CARROTS. Half-boil the carrots; then scrape them nicely,
and cut them into thick slices. Put them into a stew-pan with as much milk
as will barely cover them, a very little salt and pepper, and a sprig or
two of chopped parsley. Simmer them till they are perfectly tender, but
not broken. When nearly done, add a piece of fresh butter rolled in flour.
Send them to table hot. Carrots require long cooking.

The common wild-ducks, teal, &c., should always be parboiled with a
large carrot in the body to extract the fishy or sedgy taste. On tasting
this carrot before it is thrown away, it will be found to have imbibed
strongly that disagreeable flavour.

TO KEEP CARROTS, PARSNIPS, BEETS, AND SWEET POTATOES. These should
all be housed before the first frost. Range them side by side, and bury
them in dry sand ; a bed of sand at the bottom ; another between each
layer of the vegetables, and a thick sand covering for the whole. When
wanted for use, begin at one end, and draw them out in regular order, and
not out of the middle till you come to it.

1852 - A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, by
Charles Elmé Francatelli

No. 113. Vegetable Porridge.

Scrape and peel the following vegetables:—six
carrots, six turnips, six onions, three heads of celery, and
three parsnips; slice up all these very thinly, and put them into a
two-gallon pot, with four ounces of butter, a handful of parsley, ditto
of chervil, and a good sprig of thyme, and fill up with water or pot
liquor, if you happen to have any; season with pepper and salt, and put
the whole to boil very gently on the fire for two hours; at the end of
this time the vegetables will be done to a pulp, and the whole must be
rubbed through a colander with a wooden spoon, and afterwards put back
into the pot and stirred over the fire, to make it hot for dinner.

1860 - "The Habits of Good Society" commented -
"There are many ways of dressing potatoes and carrots, which last are a
vegetable much neglected at English tables, but when quite young, and
dressed with butter in the French fashion, a delicious eatable, and a
preventive of jaundice, which should recommend them strongly to
professional diners-out.

1861 - saw the publication of Mrs Beeton's "Book
of Household Management" arguably the most famous cookery writer in
British history. she writes three pages on carrots and carrot recipes,
how to boil, dress, stew and slice carrots. she describes their
origin, the constituent parts of carrots and advice on how to
collect seeds. She said "Several species of carrots are cultivated,—the
red, the yellow, and the orange. Those known as the Crecy carrots are
considered the best, and are very sweet. The carrot has been classed by
hygienists among flatulent vegetables, and as difficult of digestion."
Here is how she describes the nutritional value.
Read an extract from Mrs Beeton's cookbook
here. (pdf)
(full Mrs Beeton's Book on line here)

New Carrots - "NUTRITIVE PROPERTIES OF THE CARROT - Sir H. Davy
ascertained the nutritive matter of the carrot to amount to ninety-eight
parts in one thousand; of which ninety-five are sugar and three are
starch. It is used in winter and spring in the dairy to give colour and
flavour to butter; and it is excellent in stews, haricots, soups, and,
when boiled whole, with salt beef. In the distillery, owing to the great
proportion of sugar in its composition, it yields more spirit than the
potato. The usual quantity is twelve gallons per ton."

Sir Humphry Davy ascertained the nutritive matter
of Carrots to amount to 98 parts in 1,000, of which 95 are sugar, and
three are starch. Weight for weight, they stand third in nourishing
value on the list of roots and tubers, potatoes and parsnips taking
first and second places. Carrots containing less water and more
nourlshing material than green vegetables, have higher nutritive
qualities than turnips, swedes, cabbage, sprouts, cauliflower, onions
and leeks. Moreover, the fair proportion of sugar contained in their
composition adds to their nourishing value.

1861 - The Cultivator, monthly journal published in the USA,
for the farm and garden dedicated to agricultural and rural improvement,
by Luther Tucker & Son reported - "Will it pay to raise carrots for
feeding stock, is a question often asked. It don't pay, is an assertion
often made. Brother farmers, it does pay, and I will tell you how. It
pays in the extra amount of food raised for a given amount of land and
labour. I have not failed to raise but once in 12 years, a good crop of
roots, mostly carrots, and have found them to pay me better than any
crop that I can raise for cattle, sheep and horses. They give very rich
milk and improve butter and are a healthy food for all animals"
Extract from a Carroty Exhortation - letter published in the
journal. See image of the letter here.

US Civil War (1861-65) - Coffee was by far the most popular
beverage in the North and South and the US Army went to great efforts to
endure that soldiers always had coffee beans. However in the South
coffee became almost nonexistent early in the war and substitutes had to
be found, including roasting acorns, corn, dandelion roots and carrot
root. None were really satisfactory. One of
the most reviled
rations were the small cubes of dried carrots, onions, and celery
distributed to both armies. Known as desiccated vegetables, these cubes
were supposed to provide a reliable and portable source of fibre and
vitamins. But the soldiers regarded as little more than bird food, and
soon the cubes were called by a new name: “desecrated vegetables.”

Ernst Benary (1819-1893) was a German entrepreneur who started a
successful seed breeding business, which his descendants still run today.
He produced a series of 28 botanical plates in 1867, this one has been
selected by the RHS for their collection.(example below right)

Carrottes Fourragere - Forage Carrots - Lithograph from
1871 (left)

In 1868 Charles Dickens wrote in his weekly literary
magazine "All Year Round" -

French cooks in their versatile invention and restless desire to please
and delight give strange and striking names to their new dishes. They have
“The Soup of the Good Woman” and above all, “The Potage a la Jambe du Bois
(The Soup of the Wooden Leg).” But the wooden leg is an after ingredient.

Like most receipts of the first class, this one is horribly expensive;
but, like most other expensive recipes, it is just as good made more
economically. Take a wooden leg—no, that is afterwards. Procure a shin of
beef and put it in a pot, with three dozen carrots, a dozen
onions, two dozen pieces of celery, twelve turnips, a fowl, and two
partridges. It must simmer six hours. Then get two pounds of fillet of
veal: stew it, and pour the soup over the meat. Add more celery; then mix
bread and eventually serve up the soup with the shin bone (the real wooden
leg) emerging like the bowsprit of a wreck from the sea of vegetables.

1871
The Danvers Carrot is a true American heirloom, originated from market gardens
in Danvers, MA. and developed in the late 1870's
(USA history, read more here)

Gentlemen in Teheran in the 1870's took carrots stewed in sugar as an
aphrodisiac to increase the quality and quantity of sperm!

Joseph Banks the eminent botanist noted that carrots cultivated in Sandy,
Bedfordshire were transported by mule to neighbouring areas, where growing
conditions were less favourable.

All modern day carrots are directly descended from Dutch-bred carrots. The
familiar vegetable with its thick sweet tasting root, comes from a natural
variety of "Queen Anne's Lace" named Daucus Carota variety sativus (Sativus
means cultivated) similar to dill, but with bright white umbrella - shaped
flower clusters. Learn all about the Wild Carrot -
Queen Anne's Lace here.

Ox-Heart—This new carrot conies from France. It is intermediate in length
between the half-long varieties and the Short Horn, but much thicker than the
latter, attaining at the top 3 or 4 inches in diameter. It is of fine quality
for table use, and deserves general cultivation.

Half-Long Scarlet Nantes—Tops medium; roots cylindrical, smooth, bright orange;
flesh orange, be- coming yellow in center, but with no distinct core; of the
finest quality. This variety is extensively used in France for culinary
purposes, and only needs to be known to supersede the coarser sorts for garden
culture.

New Chantenay—This new half-long slump-root- ed carrot is one of the most
productive varieties known, has an extra large shoulder, is easily dug, and is
in every way desirable. It is very smooth, fine in texture, and of a beautiful
rich orange color. Well worthy of cultivation.

Danvers Half-Long Orange—A most excellent variety for all soils. It will yield
the greatest bulk with smallest length of roots of any variety, 20 to 30 tons
being no unusual crop per acre.

Red Saint Vallery—A large, beautiful Carrot, of a rich, deep orange red color.
The roots grow very straight and smooth, from ten to twelve inches long. Very
fine quality for table use, and very productive.

Large White Belgian— Grows one-third cut of the ground; immense yielder; large
size ; easily gathered; very suitable for stock. Improved Long Orange—Long
roots, good yielder. Good for table or stock. We offer the best strain of this
fine variety.

Giant Victoria—This is the Goliath among the carrot family. Under rich manuring
it will grow to be nearly the size of an average mangold wurzel.

This extract from the Kings American Dispensary in
1898 shows that a carrot poultice was recommended -
"Preparation.-Take of garden carrots, scraped, 4 ounces, Indian meal (corn
meal), 1 ounce, boiling water, a sufficient quantity to form a cataplasm of the
proper consistence. Action and Medical Uses.-This will be found a valuable
application to indolent and gangrenous ulcers, and painful tumours."

The discovery of vitamins in the 19th century, and more particularly of vitamin
A, increased the appreciation of the carrot in the every day diet, as it could
help prevent night blindness. For this same reason, during the Second World War,
British pilots were given large amounts of carrots in their diet. Vitamin A is
also good for nails, hair and skin. It has been recognised as having proven
nutritional properties from the very early days. See the
Nutrition pages for more information.